Scary time of offseason for NFL franchises

Sunday

In the case of pro football, what you do from February through mid-July shapes your football team for the fall from year to year.

Due to free agency and the constant flow of assistants around the league, the process is grueling to get 53 players and a dozen or so coaches to think and act as one.

But there are events that, no matter how successful you are in mapping out a plan, you can’t control.

The New Orleans Saints are going through this process right now with defensive end Charles Grant, one of the team’s top overall players, being indicted on a charge of involuntary manslaughter.

I try to never get too close to players and coaches, but Charles Grant is someone I would have never thought would be involved in any sort of incident.

But, in today’s world, bad things happen to good people and being in the wrong place at the wrong time has serious consequences.

Pro football has been littered with headlines throughout the off-season. Other than the serious involuntary manslaughter charges posted on Grant, we have all read about what has happened with Chicago Bears halfback Cedric Benson being charged with boating under the influence and resisting arrest. Seattle Seahawks All-Pro middle linebacker Lofa Tatupu was recently charged with driving under the influence, and perennial All-Pro Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Marvin Harrison is under investigation for a shooting that occurred outside his bar in Philadelphia.

Every time something occurs off the field, especially from April through late July, I think about comments made by former New Orleans Saints defensive assistant coach Rick Venturi in the summer of 2001.

After a practice, I had a long chat with Venturi and he expressed great concerns of what he called pro football’s “spring break period” and how concerned he was for players on the Saints team and others in the NFL.

“I am just so happy to be in camp,” Venturi said. “The scariest part of this business doesn’t happen during the season, but those months of April, May, June and into July. Some of these guys have a built-in system to stay out of trouble, but for some, too much spare time and a lot of money is a bad combination. Some of these guys put themselves in bad spots, and for others they are targets for people trying to prey on their money and them being celebrities.”

Venturi went on to say that then-Saints head coach Jim Haslett had assistant coaches constantly in touch with players in the off-season just to make sure things were going well. It was not about if something would happen, but about trying to prevent bad things from happening to anyone.

“I am certainly not trying to get anyone to feel sorry for millionaire players, but these guys are targets today for a host of people. I talk to people daily that say I wish I could be a football player. Make all that money and I would never get in any trouble and maybe they wouldn’t. But then you are targeted by guys trying to scam money off of you with deals to set you up for life and you get taken,” Venturi said. “You have women constantly throwing themselves at players, and some people you have been friendly with all your life who haven’t made it as well are trying to use their friendship to get money off of you, or who knows what else. It’s scary out there and we try and preach this to all of our players, but circumstances sometimes can get out of control and something you have really pieced together in the football off-season becomes unhinged because of one out of step incident.”

Venturi ended by saying each year unfortunate incidents can alter the very soul of NFL teams.

“I am telling you this and willing to bet every nickel I have that in those spring break months incidents that happen then and even incidents that happen earlier … now get blown up in the summer (and) affects a couple of teams each year,” Venturi said. “You have to have a strong coach, a strong front office and leaders on your team that take control when an event or events take center stage. People outside this business don’t understand just how worried coaches are about these summer months, and like a parent, you just hope guys out on their own use good judgment about where they go and who they hang around with.”

Every year since this 2001 talk with Rick Venturi I have written something about this leading into the summer months. Reality has hit the Saints and Grant. With the combination of a lot of money and free time, trouble is constantly hanging right around the corner. The sad part is that there are more of these incidents coming in the very near future for pro athletes.

LSU LANDS LINEMAN

When the LSU Tigers landed a verbal commitment from Northshore High School offensive tackle Chris Faulk the Tigers secured what one veteran recruiter called, “the best offensive lineman to come out of the Louisiana high school ranks in four years.”

The longtime Southeast Conference assistant coach says that the 6-5 ½, 310-pound offensive tackle has the tools to develop into a standout player at the next level.

“Chris has all the tools to be a tremendous football player in the SEC. Faulk has excellent size, quick feet, he is fundamentally sound and he has a huge wingspan to keep defenders at bay,” the SEC assistant coach said. “LSU has concentrated a lot of their recruiting time on offensive linemen in Texas and Florida, but Chris has a real strong chance to be the best Louisiana-based offensive lineman since Andrew Whitworth came out of West Monroe High School.”

The coach also said that he expects E.D. White Catholic standout Chase Clement to end up playing tight end early on at LSU.

“LSU is loaded at defensive end and right now Chase has a chance to play early on the offensive side of the ball. Les Miles is an old tight end coach and he loves to play a lot of tight ends in his offensive schemes,” the coach said. “Richard Dickson is a terrific football player and he could well be the best tight end to wear a Tiger uniform since Robert Royal, but there is a big hole there that Clement could fill. Chase is a super coordinated athlete, who has excellent eye-hand coordination and he knows how to get open.”

BALLHAWKING BANKS

While pro scouts will be closely monitoring the senior season of Nicholls State all-American defensive back Ladarius Webb, scouts along the Atlantic Coast will be keeping a close eye on West Liberty State cornerback/return specialist Darren Banks.

Banks, who started out his college career at Marshall University before transferring to West Liberty State in 2005, has been a dominant defensive back at a lower level of competition. The cousin of former Virginia Tech standout running back Branden Ore developed into one of the top defensive back/return specialists as a junior. The 5-10, 182-cornerback intercepted 13 passes in 2007 and he also posted 6 pass break-ups. The speedy cornerback who has posted 40-yard dash times in the (4.43) range also averaged 24.4 yards per runback on kickoffs and 11.0 yards per return on punts in 2007.

In 2006 Banks intercepted 10 passes and recorded 50 tackles for West Liberty and as a sophomore the ballhawking cornerback intercepted 5 passes and broke up 7 others.

“I looked into maybe coming out early for the 2008 NFL draft, but I made a decision to come back based on the fact that I really needed another year of football seasoning and it gives the NFL people another year to evaluate my skills,” Banks said.

Banks said people will question the competition he has played against, but he is confident he can play at the next level.

“I am a very confident person, you have to be to play the cornerback position, but I know when I get my chance I will put those question marks to bed. When you watch the NFL and see cornerbacks like Rashean Mathis come out of Bethune-Cookman, Terrence McGee come out of Northwestern State in Louisiana and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie come out of Tennessee State, and they get picked pretty high, that tells me if I focus hard on what got me this far the NFL will find me.”

MISSOURI SAINT

The University of Missouri 2008 football team could well play for the BCS national championship. This football team is loaded with talent on both sides of the football. On offense the Tigers have a Heisman trophy candidate in quarterback Chase Daniel, one of the top wide receiver/return specialists in Jeremy Maclin and a potential 2009 first day pick in tight end Chase Coffman. Also Missouri has one of the most underrated defensive playmakers in weakside linebacker Sean Weatherspoon and defensive back William Moore, who is the top-ranked senior free safety in the country by NFL scouts.

But one player to watch has never played a down of organized football. Sophomore Mike Taylor, who is a member of the Mizzou Strength Club, will attempt to walk-on to the team.

At 6-6 and 253 pounds Taylor certainly looks the part and he really got the coach’s attention by running a (4.54) 40-yard dash time in the spring. The 253-pound Taylor, who is projected to play either defensive end or outside linebacker, can bench-press 355 pounds and he dead-lifted 475 pounds.

Taylor threw the discus and competed in power-lifting meets in high school, but even with his size and athletic skills he passed on football.

The strange part is that his father, James Taylor, was an All Big-8 Conference offensive tackle at Missouri in the mid-1970’s. Also, James Taylor was drafted in the second round of the 1978 NFL draft by the Saints.

Taylor started four seasons for the Saints before going down to injuries which prematurely ended his career.

“I really didn’t want Mike to play football and go through the life-altering injuries I did,” James said. “I told Mike, find your niche in life, find something that will make you happy and take off with it.”

Now Mike wants to give football a shot and what a way to break on to the gridiron field.

Trying to make a football team that could well play for the national championship or in a BCS bowl game.

“I am competitive, and I know the guys on the team I am competing with have much more football experience, but that makes me push myself much harder,” Mike said.

James realizes that success won’t come quickly, if at all on the football field.

“He’s very athletic, but he knows it’s an uphill climb and I am going to just sit back and enjoy the ride,” James said.

NFL analyst Mike Detillier is based in Raceland.

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